She started to fling open the door and hesitated for split second. What if Noah didn’t live up to the hype her brain had manufactured? Odds were high he’d disappoint her, given the track record of those who’d come before.
She didn’t want him to fail the test. Never mind that she had no idea what test she hoped he’d pass. Perfect guy? Most likely to keep up with Sabrina West in a single bound?
Spoiler alert: he was neither.
Noah Colton equaled a fun time and a free dinner. Unless he’d really pulled one over on her and she decided to cut her losses during their first drink.
Stop being silly.
When she opened the door and spied the tall hunk of perfection on her front step, her breath caught.
He’d cleaned up nice. Really nice. His dark hair had some texture to it, but not enough to be called styled, and the windblown lookworkedfor him. The unkempt facial hair was still there, thank goodness, because she’d been having some pretty intense fantasies about that scruffy beard. But he’d traded his SAR gear for dark jeans and a ribbed Henley that hugged his shoulders. Mouthwatering. She wanted to feel those shoulders under her fingertips, just to see if the muscles were as well defined as they looked.
Yeah. Good call on wearing her best outfit.
“Hi.” His eyes lit up as they traveled down her dress to her boots and back up again. The heat in his gaze put a matching warmth in her chest. “You look incredible.”
“You dress up pretty well yourself.” She stepped out, pulling her door shut behind her. His truck sat in her driveway, and he’d parked at an angle as if too eager to get out the door to straighten up.
That made her feel giddy.
“I know a place that matches what you’re wearing.” He opened the passenger door for her, which did something to her insides. “Unless you had somewhere specific in mind?”
“You’re the boss of this venture.” As she settled into the seat, Noah’s clean wintery scent engulfed her, and she might never exit the cab of this truck. It was too delicious. “I’m curious to see what kind of restaurant you think matches this dress.”
His answering grin sent another flutter through her stomach. “The kind that makes me think about how hungry I am.”
Oh, this date was starting off on exactly the right note. “I like that answer.”
The drive was short, which was good, because the anticipation crackling between them made small talk feel anticlimactic. He pulled into the lot of the Stone House, Dark Canyon’s nicest restaurant. She’d driven past it a hundred times but never been inside.
“I hear they have decent steaks,” Noah said as he opened her door, his tone casual but the appreciation in his gaze anything but. “Am I allowed to say I’m glad you’re not a vegetarian?”
“Well, I hope so. Because I’m glad too.”
He held out a hand to help her down from the truck, and it was on the tip of her tongue to inform him she could handle vaulting a couple of feet to the ground. But shut her mouth, because duh.
Noah Colton was a gentleman. She didn’t meet many of those. Granted, it might be because she radiated aback offvibe ninety-nine percent of the time. Had she been warding away this kind of treatment all along? Maybe guys like Noah were thick on the ground and she’d been missing out, thanks to her highly capable vibe.
But she didn’t think so.
Besides, she had no interest in other guys opening doors and treating her like she was special. With Noah, it worked. She couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
She put her hand in his. An electric zing crackled across her skin as he helped her slide to the ground. The thing was, he didn’t back up to give her room, so there was a lot of sliding against his extremely solid torso.
Awareness sizzled between them, taking on shape and weight.
“I seem to be somewhat trapped against the seat,” she murmured an instant before his mouth descended on hers.
Noah. Was. Kissing. Her.
Time shuddered to a halt as he dropped her into a swirl of sensation, his lips speaking to her as clearly as if she could hear his voice. And they were saying things she had no idea she’d wanted to hear.
His hands framed her face as he deepened the kiss, and she melted into him, every ounce of first-date jitters evaporating like morning mist in the canyon. Noah kissed like he did everything else—with abject enthusiasm, incredible skill and absolute authority.
This was a man who knew how to kiss and made no apologies about the timing. Or the lack of warning.
He just…swallowed her.
